The Zeppelin Jihad Read Online Free PDF Page B

climbed out. He joined us near the ruined office building.
    “ Thanks for not going with nitro shells there, Lawrence, ” Speer said .
    “ I figured we might have men close-in, so a hyper-compressed air shell was the safest wager, ” Baylor said. “ Of course, the downside is that some of these animals might still be alive. Shall we? ” He pulled his long-barreled service revolver from its holster.
    Speer removed the empty golden cylinder and replaced it with the black one. “ Yes, let ’ s. Care to join us, Special Agent Hoff? Let ’ s see if your man is living or dead. ”
    I loaded a fresh magazine. “ Sounds lovely. ”
    Before we could enter, the last of the pocket zeppelins descended slowly towards some nearby tarmac. Speer called up to the pilot, “ MacBride, get skyward again immediately! ”
    But the zeppelin kept drifting down.
    We ran to it where it landed and saw that both pilots were injured. It had to be shrapnel from when the Gatling was hosing down the sky with lead. One had a head wound and wasn ’ t even conscious. The pilot sitting in the lead position was alert despite the chest wound making a dark, spreading stain on his uniform. “ Sorry, sir. I think we ’ re both in a bad way. ”
    As Speer yelled for medics, Baylor ’ s voice was low to me. “ I hope you report to your superiors the amount of good men ’ s blood we spent for them. ”
    “ I will, ” I said.

 

    3
    Fight the Sky
     
    We didn ’ t find Talib in the shattered building. But among the debris we found Korans, communiqu é s from Middle Eastern charity fronts, a smuggled-in satellite phone, and weapons.
    We also found air route maps.
    “ Look at these, ” Baylor said, picking up one of the maps from the wreckage. “ They must have been planning to hijack some of the industrial airships. ”
    “ Are you sure? ” I asked. “ I mean, this is an airship yard. Couldn ’ t these just be maps from the building? ”
    “ Oh, they have lots of maps in here, miss, same as you ’ d find in any yard office, ” Baylor said. “ Except Pointers don ’ t generally plot routes with hydrogen-filled airships over residential areas. Much less with their final destination being the nation ’ s tallest buildings. ”
    They had been planning on destroying the Faced Towers. “ Looks like we just avoided your 9/11, ” I said.
    “ Hopefully that will be some solace to our casualties ’ next-of-kin, ” Speer said as he entered the room.
    “ I don ’ t suppose you had any luck? ” I asked.
    “ No, ” Speer said . “ Talib ’ s definitely not among the dead. Even the ones killed in the rocket attack weren ’ t burnt beyond recognition. None of them were even Arab . ”
    “ Any word from the patrols? ” I asked. Speer had had more SIO men brought up to set up a cordon and search the area. “ I still think he might have slipped out during the firefight. If that ’ s the case, he can ’ t have gotten far. ”
    “ No sightings reported as of yet, ” Speer said .
    “ Perhaps the survivors will have some information on where he ’ s gotten to, ” Baylor offered.
    The few that we ’ d captured alive had been dazed. Blood was coming out of their ears, the hyper-compressed air having burst their eardrums. “ Going to be hard to question men that can ’ t hear, ” I said.
    Baylor shrugged. “ I have a feeling Deke Harker will find a way to make them talk. ”
    I looked over at Speer with his shirtsleeves rolled up, tie undone, and his vest smeared with blood. Dirty-faced, hair a mess, he looked stylishly disheveled, like a hero at the end of an action movie.
    That is, except for the frown on his face as he stared at one of the terrorists ’ corpses.
    “ Something wrong, Speer? ” I asked, which I realized was a stupid question. With as many men as we ’ d just lost, what in the world could count as right?
    “ It ’ s just . . . did you notice none of them were Arab? ”
    I nodded. “ Yes, you mentioned that.